AB-41 to kick off 2026

Base colour applied

Resin print from Elegoo Mars Pro

I'm starting 2026 with a model I've done before, the Italian WWII Autoblinda AB-41 armoured car. However, those earlier models were FDM printed, and painted up for the Italians in North Africa.

This time I've printed it on my resin printer, and it is intended for service with the Germans in Italy and/or the Balkans.

So far I have its basic camouflage paint applied. Getting consistent skinny lines with my airbrush is a bit of a task; the paint has to be just right or else spattering or spidering becomes unmanageable. These paints are all from Vallejo. 

 

The base colour is German Green Brown surface primer. 

That was dry-brushed with 70847 Dark Sand

 Then it was panel-shaded with 70.031 Middlestone and 70.117 Camouflage Brown.

The green disruptive stripes are 70.017 Russian Green 4BO. 

The usual Agrax Earthshade pin-washing to bring out detail, and a bit more dry-brushing.

More Italian Artillery

 

Another Italian 75mm, this time painted up for Europe or Russia.

Exactly the same model and figures as last time, with just a different colour scheme. 

Italian 75mm Howitzer (15mm)

 

Finished (more or less) the Battlefront 15mm WWII Italian 75mm howitzer base I've been using as a learning exercise for myself.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with it. And I've figured out a few things that will make building future ones a bit smoother. 

Ocker Eyetie

 

For certain reasons I had to do a test-print in resin of my 1:100 Fiat M13/40 model today.

I already have sufficient of them for my Italians, printed in FDM on my Ender 3, and I'm quite satisfied with those prints as wargaming models.

Therefore, I thought I'd paint this one up as one of those captured by the Australians, like this one here.

The vehicle in this photo looks quite dark, and I'm not sure if that's because it was still in its original olive green, or if it's painted in the red-brown used as one of their disruptive camo colours.

I worked out an easy way of painting those Aussie kangaroos in a series of simple geometric shapes, but I never actually put it to the test in real life.

Now's my chance to put my money where my mouth is.

Autoblinda 40/41

I printed and painted these some time ago, but I seem to have neglected to display them to the outside world, so here they are. They're Italian WWII Autoblinda 40 and 41 armoured cars (the AB40 is on the left, with two MG in the turret).

The digital models come from TigerAce1945 on Thingiverse.